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Google has fetched every sitemap it has been given, without errors
seo.gsc-sitemap-problems
Why this matters
A sitemap is how a site tells Google which pages exist and when they changed. Search Console records what it has been given, when it last managed to fetch each one, and how many errors it found — and that record regularly disagrees with what the site is actually serving. A sitemap submitted years ago and never fetched since, or one full of URLs that no longer resolve, is worse than none: it is a source Google has learnt to distrust.
Who fixes it
You can, usually
Roughly how long
half an hour
Care needed
Low risk to change
How to fix it
Open each sitemap URL in a browser first — a sitemap Google has never fetched is usually one that returns an error, redirects, or is blocked by robots.txt, and all three are visible immediately. For sitemaps with errors, Search Console lists the URLs it objected to; the common causes are entries on a different domain from the sitemap itself and entries that now 404. Where your site links to a sitemap Google has no record of, submit it in Search Console. Remove sitemaps you no longer generate rather than leaving them listed.
How we score it
Failing this check takes up to 12 points off your search score. It is a fact about your site rather than a measurement, so it reads the same on every scan until you change something.
Does your site pass this one?
This check runs on every scan, along with the other 106. Free, no account, and you see the evidence for each result.
Check my siteOther search checks
- Canonical tags point somewhere validA canonical tag tells Google which address is the real one for a page. When it points somewhere wrong — another domain, a dead page, or the wrong protocol — Google follows it anyway, and the page you wanted indexed can be dropped in favour of one that does not exist.
- Content has been updated recentlySome content is meant to sit still, and age alone is not a fault. But prices, opening hours and staff pages that have not been touched in over a year are usually wrong by now — and a visitor who acts on the wrong opening hours does not come back to check whether the rest was right.
- Descriptions are a sensible lengthLong descriptions get truncated mid-sentence; very short ones waste the space you are given.
- Each page has exactly one title tagA page can only have one title. When there are several, the browser and Google each pick one — and they do not always pick the same one, so what you see in the tab may not be what appears in search.
- Each page has one main headingSeveral top-level headings makes the structure of the page ambiguous. Worth checking rather than urgent — modern HTML permits it, and Google handles it, but it usually signals that headings are being chosen for their size.
- Every page has a main headingThe h1 is the headline of the page. Without one, both visitors skimming and search engines parsing the page have nothing telling them what it is about.